The present invention relates to the field of bone fracture repair, and more particularly, to a compression instrument for use in conjunction with a bone plate.
For many years, bone plates and other fixation means have been widely utilized by doctors and surgeons for repairing fractures formed in bones. Such fractures typically result in otherwise unitary bone structures being split into two or more fragments, with many of these bone fractures resulting in two separate fragments. Essentially, it has been the general practice to reset the different bone fragments to their original position, place a bone plate across the fragments, and affix the plate to each of the fragments through the use of screws or other fixation means. This allows the different fragments to reattach to one another through recalcification so as to permit the fractured pieces to be reformed into the original bone structure. During this process, the affixed bone plate preferably ensures that the fragments remain in their original position, and provides a certain level of support to the bone structure.
Although the above method of rejoining bone fragments caused by fractures has been widely utilized for many years, with overwhelmingly positive results, it is not free from any and all drawbacks. For example, while a simplified fracture repair method is basically described above, many fractures are far from simple. Often times, fractures of bones, such as long bones, are accompanied by other injuries to the body that make it difficult to reset or compress the different bone fragments to their original position. Thus, doctors or surgeons often struggle with the initial resetting of the different fragments of a fractured bone.
Therefore, there exists a need for a compression instrument for use in conjunction with a bone plate or other such device that aids in the resetting or compressing of fractured bone fragments.